Escape the World
by triquetraperson
Summary: The war in the wizarding world is over yet two of the survivors find that they cannot stay in a world where people want them to be something that they are not so they escape but temptations to go back might just prove too much...DHr
1. Chapter 1

Well, here's something to pass the time by while I try to combat that annoying little thing people like to call writer's block. Anyways, this is a small piece. Probably only two chapters, maybe three. I didn't want to it be a one-shot. So as always, please read and review!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**  
Draco Malfoy was sitting stretched out on a chair, doing something that resembled tanning. His eyes were half closed and a small smirk was settled upon his face. The sun shone upon him brillinatly, causing his skin to look even whiter than it normally was.

His chair was on a blacony that overlooked a magnificent forest that seemed to stretch for miles. There was only green everywhere. Not another building or person could be seen anywhere. There was no noise except for the occassional chirping of birds and the wind, frolicking through the leaves of the trees.

The war was over finally. He had done many things he was ashamned of. He admitted that but the worst thing for him was when he had turned himself into the Order. That had been the most humiliating thing he had ever done in his life. At least no one had been laughing at him. Potter and Weasley had almost killed him and had to be put under stunning spells to be subdued. No, no one laughed when he showed up.

He fought valiently along with the rest of the order. His prejudices had slowly slipped away as well. All the beliefs that he had grown up around were still there in him but not to the extreme that they had been when he was younger.

After the war though, everything was different. He was a hero to the people but it wasn't what he wanted. He wanted a life of quiet and solitude where he could do what he wanted, when he wanted without anyone there to bother him.

Draco sighed and looked at the sky. This place that he was in was heaven. No one would be able to find him. The forest had been enchanted when he had arrived so it had been a perfect place to live in. No one could apparate in and no one could apparate out.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by the opening of a door. He turned to see a sweaty Hermione Granger walking towards him. His eyes roamed up her legs as he saw that she was wearing rather short shorts. He could tell that she had been jogging. There was nothing else to do around here so while he spent all day doing nothing, she jogged and took nature hikes. His eyes narrowed as he saw that she had something in her hand.

"Back from your jog so soon? It's only bee what? A day?"

She looked at him and plopped down on the ground next to his chair. "Well, I have a reason."

Draco turned so that he faced her and asked, "What would that be?"

Hermione stared out at the forest and began, "Yesterday evening, I set out in the course of the falls, you know the ones with the tree frogs all around. And I was about to turn back when I noticed that something was not quite right."

"Ever the observant one," he muttered dryly.

"Shut up." She brushed her hair out of her face and said, "The falls don't have any wards on them."

"What?" he asked in alarm. "I thought this whole place was warded. We both checked at least five times when we came."

She shrugged nochalantly and said, "Well, you know what they say about this forest."

Draco muttered something under his breath and closed his eyes. "Continue."

"Well, don't get terribly annoyed at me." She gazed out at the sea of green trees in front of them and said, "That's not what I wanted to tell you anyways."

Draco watched her and murmured quietly, "You went back, didn't you?" When she nodded and looked down, he slowly took her hand. "You made a choice, Granger," he said quietly. "You made the choice to come and live with me out here when I asked you. We both made the choice to live in complete solitude away from the rest of the world."

"At least I still care for the outside world," she hissed pulling away from him. She turned away and said, "How many people do you think lost everything when we left? We were the last two great heros of the war and we just...disappeared."

"I don't know? Let me think..." Draco pretended to think very hard and replied, "For me, zero, you, about five."

"What exactly are you insinuating?"

"Oh come off it. With Potter and Weasley dead, who else do you really have?" He looked up at her slightly miffled that her back was to him.

She sighed and replied, "No one but you I suppose."

"Exactly."

Hermione turned around and looked down at him. She could help but let her eyes wander over his taut upper body. She was still human no matter how godly and heroic the other people of the world thought of her. She was only a girl.

"I got something from out there." When he didn't respond to her, she scowled and slapped it down on his stomach, grinning when it made a bright red mark.

"Bloody hell! What was that?"

"That would be the latest issue of the Daily Prophet."

He picked up the newspaper from his now red stomach and said, "What do I want this for?"

"Read the cover story."

Draco rolled his eyes at her and looked at the front page. His eyes widened slightly and after a few seconds, he started roaring with laughter. He really couldn't help it.

"It's funny isn't it?" asked Hermione quietly.

Draco wiped the few tears that had leaked out of his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Where do they get pictures like these?"

On the front cover of the Daily Prophet was a picture of two people who looked like Hermione and Draco, but really were not, holding hands and goggling at each other. The article said someting about the two of them running off together to elope but committing suicide when they realized that no one would accept their epic love. The article even had an eye witness who saw the two of them kill themselves. Unfortunately, this eye witness was unable to tell the authorities where the bodies were. The last part of the article was a two page thank you letter to the two of them for contributing so much to the war. It ended with "May your spirits rest in piece".

Hermione looked at him with an unreadable expression and asked, "Are you going to read the whole paper?"

"No, why? Are you going to read it?" he asked rudely. When he saw her looking at him with a rather serious expression on her face, he became slightly alarmed. "What's wrong now?"

Her brown eyes met his silver ones for an instant but she drew them away and said, "It's just, stories like the one on the front cover..."

He looked at her slightly concerned. "Don't worry about it Granger. It's not true. Besides, it's not as though you have a reputation to worry about. We're dead."

"That's just it!" She swivelled around to face him. "We're dead. We can never leave this forest!" She began twisting a strand of her hair around her finger and said, "We can't bring anyone in either. It's just you and me for the rest of our lives and people like us tend to live longer than normal."

"I'll pretend that your remark didn't hurt me in any sort of way."'

She dropped to her knees and looked at him with a melancholy expression. "It's not that. I mean, I don't mind being out here with only you for company. Really, I don't. In fact I like it."

"But?"

She glanced at the newspaper and said in a voice so quiet that he almost couldn't hear her, "I want a chance to be in love like that...I mean not that I want to commit suicide or anything but..."

Draco looked at her with a mixed expression on his face. That was not what he had been expecting to hear. He thought she would tell him that she was homesick. She didn't really have a home to go to but she might have wanted to stay in the wizarding world and continue to be the hero that she was not. He looked up at her only to see that she was staring right at him.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" She laughed and shook her head. "Then what again, what do you know about love? People have been falling at your feet your whole life. You've never had to work to get the person you wanted."

"That's not true!" he responded. When she looked at him with an expression of disbelief, he looked at her guiltily. "Well, it might be but what could I do about it?"

She looked at him with a pitiful expression on her face and said, "Nothing, you know what? Just forget I ever mentioned it."

As she turned to go, he called, "Don't go. You obviously have some issues that you need to sort out. Merlin forbid that it turns into some sort of underlying hate towards me causing you to murder me in my sleep."

Hermione's eyes grew wide with surprise. She marched up to him and gave him a half hearted sneer. "Are you lecturing me on having issues? I think you're the one with issues. Here you are laying in the sun at what...ten in the morning tanning in the middle of a forest. You say that I have issues?"

Draco cracked a slight smile as he saw that she was almost shaking. "I'm on a permanent vacation. I can do whatever I want."

She ran a hand through her hair and murmured, "Well, what happens when there's nothing else to do? Where do we go from there?"

Draco rolled his eyes and sat up on his chair. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down so that she was sitting next to him. He looked her square in the eye and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know what I want to do..."

"Then why are we having this conversation?"

"Look, Malfoy, what I really want is something that you can't understand." Hermione bit her lip and continued, "My parents were madly in love and they were happy together. I've always dreamed of being like that. And now..."

"You think that I don't understand what it means to love?" mused Draco. He chuckled and put an arm around her. "How about this, Granger. I'll love you."

She pushed his arm off of her and muttered, "Ever the good samaritan."

"No, I'm serious. You want someone to love, I can give that to you. I may not be the best at it and hell, you may not want it from me but I'll give it to you."

"Why would you do that for me?" she asked, her brown eyes quivering ever so slightly.

"Well, for one, you're rather emotional this morning and I've been around you long enough to know never to refuse you anything when you're like this." He paused for a moment to duck the slap that came his way. He laughed and caught her hand and said, "Secondly, I'd give you the world if I could. You gave me my world."

"I did not give you anything, Draco Malfoy."

"Oh but you did. By giving me company and coming out here with me, you gave me everything I ever wanted. I'm free."

Hermione looked at him with an incredulous look on her face. "Do you realize how incredibly cliched that sounded?"

He rolled his eyes at her and said, 'That's besides the point. You want a lover and I-"

"You make it sound so scandalous," she muttered.

Draco stared at her and drew a hand through his hair. "What is your problem? Everything was fine until you just had to go back."

She gave a defeated sigh and and said, "I want a family, Malfoy. I've always wanted one."

"I'm your family now." When he saw that she was staring down at her lap, he laughed heartlessly and took her hand. "How about this, Granger. You and I, we can have a couple of Malfoy-Granger babies. How about fourteen of them? That's more than the Weasleys."

Hermione scowled at him and said, "I don't want fourteen children."

"Eight then. It's still one more than the Weasleys." Draco grey eyes sparkled with mirth. "Then after that, all our children will grow up looking devilously handsome and beautiful. They'll be geniuses as well. Would you like that?"

Hermione cracked a smile and nodded slightly. Draco smirked at her. "You know what's the best part? After we're dead, they'll all still be in here and they'll never know how to get out. Then, they'll begin inbreeding and have their own little children...a new legacy of crazy purebloods. Wouldn't that be nice?"

She shoved him hard as he began howling with laughter. Hermione stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "This isn't funny, Malfoy."

As he continued laughing, he replied, "Silly girl, it's just you and me now. We've only got each other." He leaned back and closing his eyes murmured, "And peace, quiet, and solitude."

"Damn you and your solitude."

"Swearing now are we? I never thought I'd see the day..." He yawned and chanced a glance at her. "Why don't you take a shower or something. You smell awful."

Hermione snorted and stood over him. "Oh, and I suppose you smell perfectly? Sitting here in the sun you might start sweating a lot and let's see who smells after that." She turned away from him and said, "And when you get sunburned don't come crying to me."

"I don't burn!" he hollered to her retreating back. He smirked to himself. "I'm just plain hot."


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter up! I know I said before it owuld be about three chapters but I'm thinking of adding maybe two more. It definitely won't go past seven chapters for sure. I already have the next one written up so I just have to see where I go from there. Anways, please read and review at the end!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**  
It was rather late in the night. Around midnight, to be exact. Hermione lay awake in her room, which was down the hall from Draco's room. She could not go to sleep that night. It was partly because it was so quiet and because she had been thinking.

Would it really be that bad to go back to the wizarding world? People would be ecstatic that she wasn't dead. Wasn't that a good thing? Then there was the fact that she would be pestered everyday for interviews and all that stuff but it would die down after a while, wouldn't it? There was always the possibility that she could have a normal life in the end. Just because most of the people she knew were dead, it didn't mean that she couldn't move on with life. Nothing would change the fact that they were gone but she could still meet new people.

She had to go back and see it again.

Hermione slipped out of her bed and pulled a jacket over her head. The forest got rather cold at night and she did not want to risk getting sick. Slipping on her quietest pair of shoes, she poked her head out the door to make sure that Draco was not anywhere lurking about. He would have murdered her had he seen her. Firstly, he would not have wanted her to go out in the forest by herself and secondly, he had made it very clear that he did not want her going anywhere near the falls where the wards were gone. She never listened to him though.

She quietly walked up to the door of his room and placed her ear on it. Hearing no noise but a slight snoring, she smiled slightly and left.

The forest was very quiet at this time of night. Every sound she made felt magnified at least ten times louder than normal but she knew that it was only her imagination. There really was not anything bad in the forest. Just a few creatures that no one in the wizarding world had ever seen before. The villages on the outskirts of the forest had never even tried to venture into the forest due to the noises that the creatures made. It was just as well for now, due to the wards she and Draco made, no one could.

It was getting slightly chilly causing her to be rather thankful that she had the insight to put on a jacket.

There was something about this whole situation that gave her a thrill. Whether it was just the magic in it or just the fact that what she was doing was "forbidden" in a sense, she did not know. She started running.

Presently, she reached the clearing that led to the area of the forest where the wards were down. It was a pretty sort of area at night. The moon shone straight down onto the ground making the grass that filled the clearing glisten because of the clear dew drops that had formed on them. This grass would stay here forever though. No wind would ever rip it out of the ground and carry it away because it was never windy in this forest. She never understood why, for it got windy everywhere on the earth mostly, even if it was a slight breeze, but it was never windy enough over here to make her hair fly about her head.

The grass would never go anywhere but this place and if she kept up her life like this, neither would she. She often times wondered why she had even accepted Draco's offer to come and live here. Company, that's what it was. They said they would keep each other company in a hard time like this.

Hermione slowly walked into the middle of the clearing and sighed. She didn't even want to think about him right now. She didn't understand what he had against going back. What was there for him there? Nothing, which was why he had the opportunity to start all over again.

She was almost at the falls now. Hermione felt her heart speed up for an unknown reason. In her mind, she could hear Draco screaming at her to leave at once but she never listened to him. There was no way he would ever tell her what to do.

She stopped once the crystal falls came into her sight. The air tingled strangely with a feeling of being free. She closed her eyes and smiled, relishing the moment as it came.

She opened her eyes and frowned when she suddenly heard a whistling noise. Her eyes widened as she saw Draco lying on a rock next to the falls.

"Malfoy?"

He smirked at her while his eyes told a different tale. He sat up and said, "Fancy seeing you here."

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly not meeting his eyes.

He stretched his arm out and replied, "Me? Well, I was just going for a walk. There's nothing better than going for a walk at night." He grinned at her and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Hermione looked up at him and replied, "I came out here to think."

"Thinking out here at midnight?" Draco cocked his head at her and raised an eyebrow. "All alone too? Are you sure you won't get eaten by the creatures in the forest?"

"Malfoy."

"You know how much I hate it when you come out here alone. Especially at night."

"Malfoy."

"We don't even know what's out here. Come to think of it, no one does."

"Draco."

"If you had gotten eaten by something, well, I just don't know what I'd do without you," he continued.

"Draco!" she yelled.

"What?" he asked, staring at her coldly.

"What are you really doing here?"

"Why don't you answer that for me?"

Hermione glared at him and said, "You followed me, didn't you?"

"As if I would stoop that low." She snorted in reply as he jumped off the rock. He strode towards her and said, "Tell me, do you come here to think a lot, Granger?"

She swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Liar. You blink a lot when you lie." He looked at her with a deadly calm expression and said, "Try again."

"If you know why I'm here, why are you asking me?"

Draco's grey eyes flashed. "I just wanted to hear you say it." When she didn't say anything he said, "I'm waiting."

Hermione sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. "What do you want me to say? That I want to go back there?"

"Isn't that what you want?" he asked simply.

"I want a lot of things," she murmured.

Draco took both her hands in his and kissed them. "Please, I'm asking you, Granger. Don't go back." He dropped them and said, "I don't ask for things like that very often. Just please..."

She silently nodded and looked at the sky with a torn look on her face. "I don't see how you can give up a place that you grew up in so easily."

Draco stared at her and replied, "What did it ever give me? Nothing."

"But it gave me something!" she cried. "It gave me a new life, knowledge, friends, family..."

"Who are all dead," intoned Draco stonily. The two stood in an awkward silence for a while until Draco said, "It's late. We should both go back."

Hermione nodded as Draco took her hand and began leading her back to their house. She hated how he was able to sway her how he did. She shook her head and looked back at the waterfall.

"What about the wards?"

Draco stopped and said, "We can do them later."

"Alright."

And the two of them made their way back into solitude, away from the rest of the world for the time being.


	3. Chapter 3

I know I said before that I would update sooner but things came up and I had zero time. Anyways, hopefully I can update more now that it's summer so as always, please read and review at the end!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**

The next day came and passed just like all the days had passed since the two of them had come out here. Relaxing and free for Draco but boring and unfulfilling for Hermione. They never went back to the falls to put the wards up.

Three more days passed and this particular day found Draco lying in the sun once again. Hermione did not feel much like going for a jog this particular morning because she was sure that she would feel the temptation to go back to the falls and she really did not want Draco to be unhappy with her. Not that she was letting him control her or anything, it was just that he would figure out that she was constantly thinking about the outside world and give her a huge lecture on it and she really was not in the mood for any kind of talk.

At the moment, she was outside staring down at Draco with a sandwich in her hand.

"Move, you're blocking the sun," came Draco's voice.

Hermione stepped aside and looked down at him with a frown. "Do you realize that it's past 3 o'clock?"

"So?"

"Have you even eaten anything this whole day?"

Draco opened his eyes and looking at her replied, "No."

Hermione rolled her eyes and held out the sandwich in her hand. "For me? You shouldn't have." Draco swiped it from her hand with a devious grin on his face and began devouring it hungrily. Hermione watched with growing disgust as he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth and began chewing. She watched him chew for about five minutes. Once he had finished, he smacked his lips together and muttered, "That was good." He smirked at her and said, "You know, if you hadn't brought me that, I would have starved to death."

"You don't say..." Hermione continued frowning at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "What now?"

"Why are you still out here?"

"It's relaxing," he replied, his grey eyes twinkling. He leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. "You might want to try it sometime."

"What? Tanning?"

"No, relaxing." He opened his eyes and stared at her. She stared back at him with an incredulous look on her face.

Hermione shook her head and said, "I'll pass. I have work to do inside." As she turned to go, Draco caught her arm. She turned to him and said, "Let go."

"What work can you possibly have?" he whispered with a frown.

"Why are you whispering?" she whispered.

Draco scowled at her and said, "What do you have to do that's so important?"

"Is it any of your business? No." Hermione tried pulling her arm out of his grasp but he would let go.

Draco stared at her coolly and after a while said, "You want to go back, don't you? Back to the forest? Back to the outside world." Hermione's face grew white with rage but she said nothing. "Why?" he asked quietly. "Why do you want to go back there so much?"

"Please, spare me the lecture, Draco. I wasn't planning anything of the sort." She turned away from him and muttered to herself, "...At least not now."

He softened his hold on her arm and said, "I don't understand what you find so heartwarming about a place filled with corruption and people who don't even care about you."

"The whole world isn't like England, Draco."

"What? You want to move to another country?" He stared at her and said, "Everyone knows who you are, Granger."

She dropped her head and sighed. "You wouldn't understand. I don't think anyone really would."

"Do you want fame? Do you want the media to scrutinize every aspect of your life until you have no life? Is that what you want because that's exactly what you'll get by going back there?"

"At least I could have tried instead of giving up like this," she murmured softly.

Draco sighed and sitting up, pulled her towards him. He sat her down next to him and placed a hand on her shoulder. He put his other hand under chin and said, "Look at me, Granger." When she didn't, he tilted her chin up and said, "Hermione."

Her brown eyes locked with his and she asked, "What?"

He sighed and said, "I'm not good at this kind of thing but I'll try. You need to understand that you are not a coward. You are a Gryffindor and there is no one more worthy of that house than you. Look at me when I'm talking." He lifted her chin up again and said, "There is nothing for us back there."

Hermione pulled away from him and shook her head. "How do you know that? We never even tried to have any semblance of a normal life!"

"What do you call this?" asked Draco. "This is a normal life. No chores, no need for a job, no need to do anything important."

"But that's what life is, Draco!" exclaimed Hermione.

"You could have stayed there then! You didn't have to come with me!" he yelled.

"I know," she cried, "I know but-"

"But what?" he demanded, his eyes flashing dangerously.

She looked at him and replied, "I feel like I've abandoned everyone."

Draco gazed coldly at her and slowly stood up. He walked right up to her and stared down at her. She gazed up at him, her eyes beginning to tear. He leaned down slightly and whispered, "Go, then. If you really miss it all that much, then go." He sneered at her, an expression that she hadn't seen in a while. "You'll never be happy over there though. But if that's what you really want then go, I won't even try to stop you." He walked past her without even one glance.

"Where are you going?" she called desperately.

"Away from you!" came the reply and Hermione choked back a sob as she heard him. It was just as well.

It was approximately midnight the next time Hermione saw him. He was leaning on the door frame, arms crossed, with a scowl on his face. She was looking around making sure that she had taken everything. It had taken her a while but she knew that she had to make a decision. If she did not go back this time, she would never be able to go.

She didn't see him so when she turned around, she nearly jumped. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you didn't forget anything," he replied with a sneer. She raised an eyebrow and yelped as he tossed something towards her. She caught it and saw that it was her wand.

"You might need that," he murmured, his eyes never leaving her face.

Hermione forced herself to look away from his cold gaze. She looked around her room once and making sure that everything was in her suitcase, shrank it with a tap of her wand and pushed past Draco.

As she walked down the hallway, she heard him say, "You really are leaving, aren't you?"

She stopped in her tracks and clenching her hands turned around. "Do you want me to say that I'm not?"

He sneered at her and replied, "I'd never expect anything of the sort from someone like you."

"Someone like me?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at Draco. When he merely stared at her, she said, "Alright, I see how it is. Good bye, Draco."

Without looking back, Hermione turned on her heel and walked out of the house. Draco watched the darkness of the forest engulf her. Once he could not see her anymore, he shook his head and went to his room, looking over his shoulder only once.


	4. Chapter 4

I actually like this chapter. I think it's better than the first three. Hermione is back to her normal self instead of whining every few seconds. That's good. Anyways, thank you to everyone who reviewed even to the one who flamed. It just made me see that people like you are just wasting everyone's time. Anyways, on with the story. As always, please read and review!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**  
Hermione had found it very easy to settle back into life in the wizarding community but that was only because she had given herself a whole new identity. At first, she was very reluctant to do so but then she realized that in doing so, she would have the normal life she had asked for.

She became Jane Rainsford. Jane for her middle name and Rainsford for her mother's maiden name. It was a terribly cliché thing to do but nevertheless it suited her purposes very well. No one save the goblins at Gringotts knew who she was. She had to go there to withdraw some money in order to purchase a flat and the only way to get her money was to reveal to them who she was.

Her flat was a ten minute walk from Diagon Alley. It was on the sixth floor of a rather nice looking brown building much to her dismay. She made sure that she never looked out the window ever. It had one bedroom, a small kitchen, one bathroom, and a living room at the entrance.

Much to her dislike, she also changed her appearance. It was only in public though. Her hair became rather long and red, very similar to how Ginny's had been before she had been killed. She had also paled her skin so that it matched her hair. She was not much for vanity but she did not want to come off as horrible looking either.

She had gotten a job at a new bookstore in Diagon Alley. She had opted to work there instead of Flourish and Blotts because she was in no mood to face huge crowds. Besides, less people around meant more time to read.

About two weeks had passed since she had left. Things were still a little strange for her but she was slowly getting used to living among wizards and muggles again. It was a Sunday morning and she had decided to visit her parents' graves for the first time in two years.

Her parents had normal looking headstones. They had their names, Thomas and Amelia Granger, their years of living, and the respective beloved father, mother, husband, and wife titles on them. There was nothing on them that suggested that their deaths had been mixed in with the wizarding world.

She was standing in front of their graves, no emotion on her face. She had given up crying for them a long time ago. She had tried to protect them from the war but they had insisted that they would be fine. She had left them after a huge fight and the next time she saw them, they were dead.

She stared at the graves with silent anger in her head thinking to herself that if she had just been more persistent towards them, they would have listened to her and gone into hiding. Hermione slowly placed one flower in front of each of their graves and continued staring. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't see that someone had come and stood beside her.

"Sad isn't it?"

She blinked and turned to look at the person next to her. "What?"

"How people like them could die from a horrible sickness."

"They were only human," she replied. She frowned and asked, "What do you mean by a horrible sickness?"

The man next to her shifted uncomfortably and replied, "Well, about two years ago, a horrible sickness spread throughout the world, killing many people." He pointed to Hermione's parents and said, "They were killed by it." He pointed to another set of headstones and said, "My brothers were killed by it as well."

Hermione studied the man in front of her. He was average height for a man, had sandy colored hair and light green eyes. And if she wasn't mistaken, he had a poorly concealed wand under his shirt.

"How do you know them?" she asked, gesturing to her parents.

He evaded her gaze and replied, "Their daughter, Hermione Granger. I didn't actually know her but she was a well known figure in our...society."

He looked at her and asked, "How did you know them?"

She looked down and replied, "I'm their d-dear cousin- Hermione's cousin, their niece."

"Oh..." came the reply.

The two stood in awkward silence for a while until Hermione said, "You're a wizard aren't you?"

He looked at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"It's alright. I'm a witch as well. Besides," she gestured to his wand and said, 'I could see your wand through your shirt." Turning on her heel, she said, "You really ought to hide it better next time."

As she walked away from him, she heard him run up behind her. "Wait! I didn't even get your name!"

She swiveled around, stopping him right in his tracks. "Is that what people like you do? Go to cemeteries where girls are mourning the loss of their loved ones and try to get them to sleep with you? You disgust me." Throwing him a sneer, she continued walking and sighed as he caught up with her again.

"No, that's not how it is. You've got it all wrong." He ran a hand through his hair and said, "I come here every Sunday to see my brothers graves and well, you were here and I decided to talk to you...no one ever visits the Grangers' graves so I was just curious."

Hermione looked at him with a speculating gaze. "Somehow, I don't really believe that."

"Well it's the truth. Now what's your name?" His green eyes sparkled slightly, captivating Hermione's attention.

"Jane. Jane Rainsford."

He held his hand out and said, "Henry. Henry Trotville."

"Lovely," she murmured, releasing his hand. "Well, Henry, I really have to go. My err...my cat needs to be fed. He's very impatient when it comes to food." She was quite aware that she was being rude but something told her not to get involved romantically with anyone for a while. Perhaps it was just this man or perhaps she just didn't feel like losing anyone close to her.

She turned to go but was stopped by the sight of Henry in front of her. "What now?"

"I don't know why you don't like me but I think it would be nice if we went out sometime."

"On a date?"

"Uh...well, we could go just as friends."

Hermione raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Do you know how many books I've read where the guy says something like that? In the end, they always end up being more than friends and frankly, that's something I'd like to avoid."

"Well, I don't mind it. Look, you're a real pretty girl and I can't help feeling attracted to you."

Hermione gave him a deadpan look and said, "You're rather forward aren't you?"

He gave her a lopsided grin that reminded her painfully of Ron and said, "My mum always yells at me for it."

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "Fine, I'll eat lunch with you or whatever. But remember, it's only as friends." When he nodded, she said, "Pick me up at the new bookstore in Diagon Alley day after tomorrow."

With that, she turned away, shaking her head.

She entered her flat and threw her purse onto the rather small couch in the living room. She never really used anyways. Hermione preferred sitting on the floor for some odd reason. She had bought quite a few mirrors though. They were rather handy as sometimes she would forget to change her appearance in the morning.

Standing in front of a mirror in the hallway that led to her bedroom, she frowned and pulled on a strand of her red hair. She liked the color better when it was on the Weasleys. It was rather bright for her taste but it was ok. Her skin on the other hand was rather frightening. She had never been really pale like this. She always had normal peach skin with freckles here and there. Sometimes her skin grew a little darker due to the sun but that was it. But here she was with skin almost as light as Draco's and...

Draco. She hadn't thought about him in a while. Two weeks to be exact. What would he say if he saw her like this? She clenched her jaw and shook her head slightly. Pointing her wand to her head, she muttered a spell and her hair and skin color changed back to its normal look. She stared at the mirror for a while before going to the kitchen to make something to eat.

As she opened her fridge, she saw a bottle of milk at the side of it. She smirked and shook her head. She would probably have to get a cat now. Henry would no doubt ask about it and she didn't feel like making up something about a fake cat. She had been rather reluctant to get a cat ever since Crookshanks had disappeared but perhaps now was as good a time as any.

She took out a sandwich that she had wrapped in foil and placed a slight warming spell on it so that it would not taste despicable. It wasn't her preferred meal or anything but that was what she could make the best.

A "pop" echoed in her flat just seconds later. She frowned wondering who it could be. She looked around and saw a figure sitting on her couch facing away from her.

"Who is it?"

"Take a wild guess," drawled a voice.

Hermione's jaw and sandwich dropped simultaneously. Draco Malfoy was sitting in her flat.

He stood up and turned to her. "You look terribly unattractive with your mouth hanging open like that."

She shut her mouth immediately and looked him over. He seemed paler and thinner than usual.

"You know, you were really hard for me to find at first. I was looking for a bushy haired muggleborn yet I only found a red haired pale skinned witch. I thought I had the wrong flat when you came in. But I see that it was only a disguise."

"What are you doing here, Draco?" she asked quietly.

He strode over to her and tentatively took a lock of her brown hair in his hand. "I never thought red hair looked that nice on you."

She shrugged out of his grasp and said, "What are you doing here?"

"I finally realized that I didn't know a thing about cooking. It took me a while to make the decision to come but I finally did." Hermione couldn't help but let a small smile emerge on her face. But it fell off immediately for afterwards he said, "This doesn't change anything. I'm not here to welcome you back with open arms. You're the only person I would even come within breathing range of. I'm not too keen on coming near you at that either."

"There's an old lady next door. She has a cat," Hermione murmured. "Her flat is tiny. I'm pretty sure that she's within breathing range."

"Well, damn her." He sighed and said, "I need something to eat."

"What do you want?"

He shrugged. "Chicken, ham, turkey, a sandwich, even a noodle would be nice. I've been starving these last two weeks."

Hermione looked down at her uneaten sandwich that had been in her hand and handed it to him. When he gave it a funny look, she said, "Take it."

"That's your sandwich."

"Either take it or starve, Draco." Draco scowled at her yet grabbed it all the same. "You might want to look at it to see how I made it. All the things you need are in the kitchen at...your house."

He froze at the words at stared at her coldly. He finally tore away from the gaze and took a small bite out of the sandwich. Hermione turned away from him to get him a glass of orange juice.

"No chance of you staying for a while, is there?" She turned and saw that he had gone. Not even a goodbye or a thank you for the food. Typical Draco. Yet a part of her heart cried out that he was so cold to her. She leaned on the counter of her kitchen and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she laid her head on the counter and wished for its coldness to take her away.


	5. Chapter 5

Well, I just have to say that I have been eating skittles nonstop for the last two days just because I can and that even though I know I shouldn't be doing it, I feel the urge to finish the bag. It's one of those big ones you buy at movie theaters. Anyways, I just have to say that there are approximately two chapters left after this one so happy reading and don't forget to review in the end!**  
**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**

Just like Hermione had asked, Henry picked her up from the bookstore promptly at noon. From there, he told her to tell her boss that she would not be back the whole day because he was taking her somewhere rather nice. After a while, Hermione had finally relented and told her boss just that.

The reason she was so reluctant was because she had become very familiar with the other employees of the bookstore. None of them, as far as she could tell, even held an inch of compassion for books as she did. To them, she knew that it was only an easy way to get money. They would quit the instant they found a higher paying job. Naturally, she was a bit miffed that she was forced to take the whole rest of the day off. But she was in for a surprise.

Henry took her to a seaside café by the English Channel! It was a big surprise for her. She had not been to the water in quite a long time and was shocked. The café itself was a very nice place. She especially enjoyed the ice cream. After they had finished eating, they both went on a walk along the beach until sunset.

The five dates/outings that followed this first one were nice like this one.

For the second, third, and fifth ones, he had taken her to see sappy muggle romantic films that always left her in tears. She couldn't help crying and Henry was always next to her with tissues. While she watched the screen with much fervor, Henry would be sitting next to her, his eyes half closed, occasionally taking a bite of popcorn from the bucket in her hands.

For the fourth outing/date, they had gone on a picnic in a park. It was a bright sunny day and the food he had brought was wonderful. There were kids running about laughing, birds were chirping; it was heaven. This was the first outing for her that felt like a real date. She had enjoyed it immensely too.

The sixth outing had been rather strange. By the time the fifth date (a romantic movie) had ended, she had concluded that Henry wasn't a bad guy after all. He had done so much to make her feel happy and she felt obliged to do something that he wanted this time. So, for this date, they went to his house and watched a scary movie. She didn't know why but both of them seemed to have a real affinity for watching movies.

It wasn't scary actually. Hermione had seen worse during the war. It was just really gory, too much fighting and blood. While she kept a mildly disgusted expression on her face the whole time, Henry had his hands wrapped possessively around a bucket of popcorn and was leaned forward with his eyes wide open. He looked rather comical and very cute to Hermione and that itself made up for the movie.

If she got anything else out of this, she knew that she really did like Henry in more than just the friend way.

For each of these six dates, as she now liked to call them, he had politely apparated her back to her flat and before saying good bye, had given her a kiss on the cheek. Each of the six times, she responded by slapping him.

* * *

Hermione always knew that the number seven was very magical. So magical that she didn't even take time to consider that maybe anything that happened on her seventh date with Henry was a warning telling her not to go ay further.

Henry had taken her to a French seafood restaurant. Hermione could not speak or understand any French so she let him order something for her. She had also conveniently forgotten to let him know that she was very allergic to shrimp.

Henry rapidly fired off some words in French to the waiter who had come back about fifteen minutes later with plates of some sort of colorful seafood arranged beautifully. They had made it look so pretty that Hermione had almost not wanted to eat it. Finally, seeing that she would starve if she didn't eat anything, she ate every single bit of the seafood savoring its taste.

"Henry?" she asked.

"Yes, Jane?" Hermione inwardly sighed at his use of her name.

"This was really good food."

He grinned lopsidedly at her and replied, "I know, that's why I brought you here."

She smiled at him and asked, "Would you mind telling me what I ate?"

He laughed and smiled. "It was a form of shrimp salad."

Her face paled. "Shrimp?"

"Yes, shrimp."

"And where exactly was the shrimp?"

Henry wiped his mouth with his napkin and said, "It was the blue stuff."

Hermione felt her face grow even paler. She was sure that she looked ghastly now. "Henry, since when has shrimp been blue?"

"Since they colored it," he replied. He frowned and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

She rapidly stood up and said, "I am deathly allergic to shrimp."

His eyes grew wide with horror. "Do- do you need to go to a hospital?" He immediately rushed to her side and took her hand.

"Just take me home," she ground out, feeing her stomach start to rebel.

"Are you sure?" he asked worriedly. "I really don't want you to die or anything because I really like you and-"

Hermione slapped the back of his head. "Just take me home!"

Henry nodded to her and signaled to a waiter who nodded. He apparated her back to the building her flat was in and guided her up the stairs slowly. Much to his dismay, she had placed anti-apparation wards on her flat for some odd reason that she refused to say.

The seventh date had been a complete and utter disaster.

As they climbed the stairs, Henry wrapped his arm around her waist encouraging her and telling her that she would make it. Hermione on the other hand was at the verge of laughter. She really wasn't that sick…yet, but she liked it when he made a big fuss over her. It was really cute. It took everything in her power to control her laughter.

"Are you going to be alright? I can stay with you if you want me to."

"It's alright, Henry. You just won't see me for a whole week because I'll be next to my toilet vomiting all day."

Finally they reached the door to her flat on the sixth floor. Henry pulled her towards him in a hug and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry Jane. I only wanted to take you somewhere special."

Hermione grimaced as a wave of pain shot through her stomach. "It's fine, Henry."

Henry looked down at her with an unreadable expression and suddenly pressed his lips upon hers, wrapping his arms around her waist. He felt her pull away and closed his eyes, waiting for the oncoming slap that usually followed every time he tried to make a move on her. Much to his surprise, it never came.

Henry slowly peeked an eye open and said, "What? No slap this time?"

Hermione quirked her mouth into a sort of half smile and wrapped her arms around his neck. She tentatively gave him a small peck on the lips before saying. "No slap today...I rather enjoyed that kiss."

Henry smirked at her before diving in for another kiss. He frowned however as he only met her cheek. He looked at her questioningly.

She gulped and shook her head. "I don't want to you know...throw up while kissing you. My stomach's a mess now and I really feel the urge to...erm...vomit."

Henry laughed and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "No problem, babe."

She raised an eyebrow as he stepped away from her and apparated. No one had ever called her babe before. No one had ever called her anything apart from Hermione. But things never stay the same too long. Here she was being called Jane and babe of all things.

A sudden jolt in her stomach reminded her of more pressing matters. She quickly pushed open the door to her flat completely ignoring the fact that her tiny cat, Nimbus, had not come out to greet her. She had named it Nimbus as a tribute to her two dead friends. Both of them had loved Quidditch so much that she somehow felt obligated to name something after it. She was not too pleased with the name at first but she got used to it.

She hurriedly placed her purse on the kitchen counter and rushed towards the bathroom. On the way, she caught sight of her face which was now taking on a greenish yellowish tinge. She had no idea how Henry could have kissed her while she looked like this.

Hermione threw open the door to the bathroom and lunged towards the toilet, emptying out the contents of her stomach into it. Her stomach was hurting her so much that she didn't even notice when the door creaked open. A slight cough distracted her from her misery. She looked up and saw Draco Malfoy leaning on the door frame, her cat in his hands.

"I must say that you vomit in the most undignified manner that I have ever seen."

She felt dismay welling inside her as she heard him. She had put the wards on the flat for a reason and apparently they weren't good enough. "I suppose you can vomit better than me?"

"Naturally," he scoffed. "I am a Malfoy. It's been ground into me my entire life on how to act in situations like these."

"Oh," replied faintly. "I suppose that's why the whole lot of you always have unpleasant expressions on your faces. You must all be holding the vomit in." With that, she proceeded to vomit once more into the toilet. Looking back at him through bleary eyes she said, "I hate to break it to you dear, but there is no dignified way to vomit."

Draco sniffed and began petting her cat. "Says the girl who neglected her house guest for favor of kissing a fool outside her door."

Hermione weakly pushed herself up from the ground and said, "Perhaps I would have been more attentive if I had known that I had a house guest." She held her stomach and flushed her toilet, grimacing as she closed the lid. "I feel horrible," she muttered as she went to the sink to wash her face.

"You are horrible," Draco intoned. "Your personality is horrible, your lineage is horrible, your house is horrible, your food is horrible, even your looks are horrible!" He laughed and continued petting her cat. "By the way this cat of yours is far more agreeable than the other monster you had."

Hermione turned on the tap in the sink and splashed cold water onto her face. She pressed her eyes closed as she turned the tap off. Leaning against the sink she turned to Draco and said, "You have some nerve Draco Malfoy, breaking into my house when I'm obviously rather ill and insulting me like there is no tomorrow."

"Would you like me to do anything else? I could trash this place if I really felt like it." Draco put Hermione's cat onto the ground and shooed it out of the bathroom. Staring at her he said, "I don't know why I even bother with the likes of you."

"Because I'm all you have," she spat.

"How I wish it was the other way around," he muttered.

"Why? So that you could see me groveling at your feet?" Hermione gave him a gaze filled with pure malice.

He shook his head and said, "Nothing of the sort." He took two quick steps across the bathroom until he was right in front of her and placed a hand on her cheek. With a rather unpleasant scowl on his face, he said, "I don't know what that fool you're dating sees in you. I especially don't know what you see in him."

Hermione snarled at him and slapped his hand away from her face. "Don't touch me," she snapped. She pushed past him towards a mirror in her hallway and whipping her wand out of her robe, waved it around her face. Her hair and skin color changed back to normal in a snap, leaving a scowling brunette staring at her reflection.

She turned to face Draco and with a sneer asked, "What do you want this time?"

"And here I was thinking that you wanted to see me," he muttered nonchalantly. "Plainly put, I'm tired of eating sandwiches all day long. I need something new."

Hermione felt her stomach lurching and immediately rushed to the toilet to vomit once again. Feebly lifting her head up, she muttered, "You're smart. Conjure something up."

"How dumb do you think I am? I already tried. I tried conjuring up some chicken; a live chicken appears in front of me. I ask for a banana, a huge tree sprouts in the middle of the room." He brushed his hair out of his face and said, "The forest does strange things to magic."

"Deal with it then," she snarled back leaning towards the toilet bowl as she felt her dinner begin to rise up in her throat.

Draco leaned against the door frame of the bathroom and surveyed her with a cool look. "Are you absolutely sure that it's the food that's making you so sick?"

"What else could it be?" she murmured, resting her head against the toilet seat.

"Well, there's also the possibility that you could be pregnant."

Hermione turned to look at him with a disgusted look on her face. "Are you assuming that I've slept with Henry?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her and replied, "You've gone on what? Seven dates with the man." He looked at her cruelly and whispered, "Seventh one is the charm."

He looked down at her with an arrogant look n his face and said, "Besides, that man is a despicable creature if I ever saw one. Everything about him is fake."

"You've never met him!" Hermione replied, frowning.

"That's what you would think." Draco smirked at her and said, "He's bad news, Granger. I would stay away from him if I were you."

"Thank you for your insightful advice but I can take perfectly good care of myself."

He looked funnily at her and asked, "Really?" He shook his head and said, "Granger, did you know that Henry Rainsford has been married multiple times?"

She wiped her forehead and said, "By multiple times you mean once?"

"No, I mean about six times."

She snorted and said, "He's only a year older than the both of us. Where would he have had the time to get married that many times? Besides, I've never heard him mention anything about his so called marriages if you're actually telling the truth."

"That's because all his other wives are dead." Hermione stared at him. "Yes, you heard me. D E A D, dead." He smiled at her and said, "The ministry said that it was suicide but I have reason to believe otherwise."

Hermione looked at him with disappointment on her face and shook her head. She slowly got up and said, "You're just trying to scare me. I'm starting to think that it was real silly of me to even hope that we could be friends again. You're not even willing to try, Draco. I don't even understand why."

"It's real simple."

"Enlighten me then," she spat.

"You left me," he whispered, staring at her accusingly. "You said you would stay with me forever."

"I never said forever, Draco."

"What did you say then?" He blinked rapidly and assuming a high pitch voice said, "Oh Draco, I'll stay with you until I feel like it. After that, I'll leave you all alone in the scary forest so that I can go back to the real world and screw as many people as I can get my hands on." He gave her an ugly look and said, "Is that what you said?"

Hermione had her wand out in an instant and pointed at his face. "Get out now."

"Don't even bother," he muttered, pushing her wand away. "I don't plan on staying anymore." The two stared at each other hatred pooling in both of their eyes. Finally, Draco said, "You'll be lucky if I ever come back here again."

Hermione stepped back, her lower lip trembling. She could feel the tears that threatened to drop from her eyes.

"You don't mean that."

He gave her one last condescending look and apparated away with a CRACK. A gasp escaped her throat as she dropped to her knees. She clapped a hand to her mouth as the tears poured down her face. Letting out a loud sob, she buried her head in her hands and cried to herself for the rest of the night.


	6. Chapter 6

Two more chapters left and I can honestly say that I am rather happy with this chapter. It's longer than the other ones but I like it. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far and as always polease read and review at the end!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**  
Hermione looked over a shelf of books at Henry, her boyfriend of four weeks. He was reading a rather large book with a devious sort of smirk on his face. It reminded her terribly of another person whom she hadn't seen for exactly four weeks but she forced herself not to dwell on unpleasant thoughts. She found Henry very cute at sometimes and she couldn't help but just stare at him. Granted, she had never been the type to openly stare at anyone, but no one had ever caught her eye like he had.

Henry looked up from his book at caught Hermione's eyes. He gave her a roguish grin and winking at her, went back to his book. She blushed slightly and looked back at the shelf of books she was in front of. She sighed and went to work. She hated how people came into bookstores and after pulling books out of the shelves, never put them back in their proper places. That was how she was stuck with the job of re-alphabetizing all of the books in the store. As she went back to work, she couldn't help but think about how smoothly her life was going. She was normal now. Or at least she thought she was. No one expected anything of her.

Pulling a book out of the shelf, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled slightly as she put the book back in the shelf. She turned around and wrapping her arms around Henry's neck said, "You really shouldn't be distracting me."

Henry smiled at her and asked, "I know but it's fun." He bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. He did that a lot much to Hermione's slight annoyance.

They pulled away from the kiss and he continued to kiss the rest of her face. "My boss is probably watching us right now." She looked towards the front of the store where a witch in a frayed hat was watching them with a disproving glare.

"But that hag's not pretty like you, is she babe?" asked Henry, kissing her lips once more. Hermione blushed and playfully shoved him away. She still did not like being called babe but she let him do so. Henry grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. "I have something to ask you."

She smiled and asked, "What?"

"Do you want to move in with me?"

Hermione's eyes widened as she stared at him. "What?"

Henry drew a hair through his sand colored hair and said, "Live with me." When she merely continued staring at him he smirked at her. He grabbed her chin with his hand and kissed her. "Think about it. You know where to find me." He winked at her and apparated from the bookstore. Hermione blinked and shook her head. She had a lot to think about.

* * *

At about five o'clock, she came back home, with a rather thoughtful air about her. She hadn't stopped thinking about what he had asked her all day and each second she continued to think about it, she felt more and more confused as to what she should do.

She knew that any normal girl would probably say yes. Hell, she would say yes too but she had quite a few things to worry about. The first thing was that she would never be able to take her glamour off. She liked being a redhead but not that much. She would have to tell him who she really was and that was not a conversation she was looking forward to. She would probably have to obliviate him in the end since she was one hundred percent sure that it would end up being a disaster.

Then there was that question of Draco. Her heart constricted painfully every time she thought of him. She knew that he said that he wouldn't come back. He usually kept his word but he also said that he wouldn't come for her when she left him but he still did. What if he were to pop in on her while Henry was with her? That would be a disaster for certain.

She dropped her purse on her couch and scooped up Nimbus who had begun meowing as soon as she had entered her flat. She walked over to one of the many mirrors in her house and stared blankly at her too pale face. She lifted a hand to her face and absentmindedly pulled at one of her cheeks. Her face looked real enough. "Disguises are never as good as the real thing," she murmured to the kitten before changing her face back to normal. She stared at her reflection for a while before turning away from the mirror.

Hermione walked over to the kitchen and set Nimbus down on the counter. She pulled a bag of cat food out from a cabinet under the counter and put it in a bowl for her kitten. Turning away from the eating feline, she looked through her fridge for something to eat.

As she was rummaging through the fridge, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She let out an ear splitting scream and grabbing the thing closest to her which happened to be a full milk carton, she turned around and bashed it against the person who had touched her. Then she kicked the person on the leg and watched as the person toppled to the ground. It was only after she had crouched behind the open door of her fridge that she realized that Draco Malfoy was laying on her kitchen floor.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?"

"It's back to Malfoy, is it?" He groaned from the floor as he raised himself up. A bruise had started to form in the middle of his forehead.

She gave him a wary glance and asked again, "Why are you here?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Do you have to answer everything with a question?"

"Couldn't I ask you the same?"

She ignored him and said softly, "I thought you said that you weren't coming back."

He leaned on the kitchen counter with a wince and scooping up Nimbus replied, "I wasn't going to but my starving stomach gave way."

She looked at him incredulously and shook her head. "Don't you have any where else to go?"

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where exactly do you propose I go?"

"Anywhere but here," she snapped, coming out from behind the fridge. She put the milk carton back inside the fridge and slamming the door shut, glared at him expectantly. He looked back at her. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to leave or not?"

"Why would I leave, Granger?"

"Because this is my house and I don't want you in it."

He rolled his eyes and looked around. "Can we forget about everything that's happened between us for just a few minutes?"

"Every minute that you're here, one minute of my day is wasted." She sneered at him and much to her surprise he actually turned away from her.

"Please, I need food, Granger." He turned back to her and said, "My magic doesn't even work there anymore."

"Well then, you should have come and lived here when you had the chance," she sniffed.

"Could you stop being a bitch about all this for just one second?" As Draco stared at her, Hermione realized there Draco was indeed in need of her help. His face had grown sallow and his cheek bones were jutting out slightly giving him a much pointier look. His hair had lost its usual vibrant look and was hanging lifelessly about his face. His robes were immaculately clean as always but they hung off him slightly as well.

"You really have been starving, haven't you?" she asked quietly, pinching the bridge of her nose as she attempted to calm down. She shook her head and walked over to him. Taking Nimbus from him and setting him back on the counter, she steered Draco over to the couch and sat him down.

He watched her with narrowed eyes as she went back to her fridge and looked for something for him to eat. Draco tore his eyes away from her and looked around her flat. He froze when he saw what was sitting above her fireplace. There was a picture of Henry and her kissing. He walked up to it and stared at it with a glare somehow wishing that the picture would curl up and set itself on fire.

Draco felt a gentle pull on his arm and looked up to see Hermione leading him back to the couch. She sat him down in front of her and gave him a plate. On it was a very green salad with two slices of bread and cheese. She also had a bottle of butterbeer.

"It's not much but that's about all I have."

He glanced up at her and noticed that she seemed rather troubled. Shaking his head, he accepted the plate from her and began eating. A few seconds went by before he said, "You don't have to worry about me not eating."

Hermione blushed and got up from the couch. She moved to go back to the kitchen but Draco said, "Stay." She hesitantly sat back down on the couch next to him, giving him a slightly cold look. He supposed he deserved that though.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say. Draco welcomed this silence though because it gave him more time to mull over that picture above her fireplace. Hermione on the other hand wished that he would say something. She wasn't very good with dealing with silences.

"I wish you would stay here, Draco," she whispered finally. She could only stay angry for so long and if not seeing Draco for four weeks made her feel this hurt then she had no idea what not seeing him for the rest of her life would feel like.

He paused in his eating and regarded her with slightly amused eyes. "What do you need me here for? You've got him." He gestured towards the accursed picture of her and Henry. When he saw her frown, he couldn't help but let a smirk surface onto his face. "What's wrong? Trouble in paradise?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and said, "He asked me to move in with him." Draco nearly choked on his food.

"Did he now?" he asked in a weak tone. "And?"

"Well, it's a little fast for me." She shook her head and looked at him.

Draco looked at her with a funny look on his face, not sure of what he should say. He felt some sort of immense relief that she wasn't comfortable with living with the dolt. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be acting all nice to her but he couldn't help himself from asking, "Is that all?"

Hermione laughed and put her head in her hands. "He calls me babe, Draco." Draco couldn't help himself at this point. He began roaring with laughter. Hermione cracked a slight smile at the sight of him enjoying himself.

"What does he think you are?" asked Draco through his laughter. "A pig?"

Hermione stared at him with an eyebrow raised at his obvious reference to a muggle movie. "Are you alright?"

Draco merely smirked at her and patted her cheek. As he removed his hand from her face, Hermione felt a slight chill go through her body. Dismissing it as her apartment being cold she said, "He's nice but I don't think I want to live with him."

"Sounds to me that you don't like him as much as you thought you did."

Suddenly, the fireplace began ringing. Henry's name appeared above it and Hermione silently cursed. "Henry's coming."

"Through the floo?"

"He connected it for me as a surprise." Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket and waved it in front of her face. Draco watched with slight disgust as her face paled drastically and her slightly bushy hair became straight and red. She turned to him and said, "I would hide somewhere if I were you."

Draco leaned back on the couch and smirking at her said, "No, I think I'll stay and watch you two lovebirds."

Hermione glared at him and said, "Then disguise yourself." Draco raised an eyebrow at her. Another ringing noise came from the fireplace and just before Henry stepped out of it Hermione brandished her wand at Draco, changing his appearance.

Henry strolled out of the fireplace and gathering Hermione into his arms, kissed her passionately. Draco watched with look of extreme disgust on his face. When Hermione pushed Henry away, he frowned at her. She smiled apologetically at him and pointed to the couch. Henry looked over her shoulder and saw a man who appeared to be taller than him by quite a bit with shockingly black hair and bright blue eyes. Hermione herself looked slightly shocked but pleased at the same time with how she had made Draco look.

"Henry, this is my old friend from school," said Hermione patting the frowning man on his arm.

Draco took this as his cue and standing up, held out his hand and said, "Lawrence Snaps."

Henry raised an eyebrow and gingerly shook Draco's hand. "Snaps? I went to Hogwarts as well and I don't remember a Snaps."

"I don't remember a Henry," replied Draco matter-of-factly.

Henry dropped Draco's hand and said, "Jane, babe, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Hermione smiled sweetly at him while Draco smirked. "Sure why not? Dr- Larry, would you excuse us for a minute?"

Draco grinned at her and nodded. As he left the room for the inner part of Hermione's apartment, she heard him say, "Larry, how lovely."

She turned back to Henry and asked, "Yes?"

"I didn't know that you had friends."

"What?" asked Hermione bewildered.

Henry seemed to realize his mistake for he blushed slightly and said, 'Forgive me…that came out wrong. I wasn't aware that you had a friend here."

"Oh, well he sort of dropped by unexpectedly. He's been out of the country since school ended."

"What's his job?" asked Henry, his green eyes flashing.

"No job really," replied Hermione shrugging. "He just travels for fun."

"Oh..." As he kissed her deeply on the lips Hermione had to will herself not to pull away. He squeezed her tightly, running his hands up and down her back. She could feel her wand digging into her ribs. He kissed her far too often for her liking. His arm was always around her possessively and every time they did something, he would always kiss her profusely. It irked her very much sometimes and even though she felt that she should have been happy to have a gorgeous guy like Henry kissing her, she knew that if he kissed her anymore, she would have to take a long bath to rid herself of his kisses.

Once he pulled away from her, he asked, "So have you thought about what I asked you?" Hermione bit her lip and nodded. "And?"

"I just don't think I'm ready for that...yet."

She saw Henry's jaw clench and a slightly mad gleam come into his eyes but brushed it off as a trick of the light. "I understand perfectly, babe. We're going too fast." Hermione nodded as he pressed a kiss to her lips. "Oh and babe, can I tell you something?"

"What?"

"I don't particularly like your friend Lawrence. He seems like a slightly shady character. Stay away from him, will you?"

Hermione's brown eyes flashed slightly. "But he's my friend. He wouldn't do anything to me."

Henry ran a hand through her hair and said, "I'm just worried about you, that's all. Stay away from him, okay?" Hermione nodded and almost groaned as he kissed her again. Henry winked at her and disappeared back into the fireplace.

She went towards her kitchen and turning on the sink said, "You can come back now Larry."

Draco sauntered back into the room with a mildly unpleasant look on his face. When he saw her in front of the kitchen sink furiously rubbing her mouth, he asked, "What on earth are you doing, babe?"

She spit into the sink and said, "Washing my mouth." Hermione wiped her mouth and said, "He was here for about three minutes and he kissed me four times." She spun to face him and asked with a curious expression on her face, "Did you just call me babe?"

"Of course babe."

"Don't do that, Draco. It sounds even worse when you say it."

Draco snorted and said, "Where did you come up with this?" He gestured to his face.

"Harry and Ron," she said softly.

"You were thinking about them when you did this?"

She looked at him with an odd expression on her face and said, "No, more about the mess they would have made on my carpet after they finished beating Henry to pulp."

"Morbid."

"I know." She looked down, biting her lip.

Draco stared at her and said, "You know, he was doing something funny with your wand while he was hugging you."

"He always does that," she muttered. "Every time he hugs me, it ends up digging into my ribs. I even have a bruise there from it." She sighed and after a few seconds said, "I think I need to break up with him."

"Now you're taking my advice?"

"I don't believe even one word you said about him having six wives," she snapped. She wiped her still red hair out of her face and said, "He's too err..."

"Lovey dovey? Touchy feely?" Draco smirked widely at the girl.

Hermione made a face at him and nodded. "He's a little too possessive and do you want to know what he said? He said that he didn't know that I had friends. Of course he said that he didn't mean for it to come out like that but I know that he really thought I didn't have any friends." She came out of the kitchen and stood right in front of him. Staring into his eyes, she said, "He also told me to stay away from you."

Draco looked down at her coolly. "Are you going to?"

"I'm breaking up with him, Draco. Of course I'm not going to stay away from you." She reached up and gave him kiss on the cheek. "I could never."

Draco stared down at her with shock in his eyes. He blinked slowly then after a moment asked, "You wouldn't mind terribly if I stayed here for a few days before I went back to the forest, would you?" Her jaw dropped. "I suppose that I should just go back then seeing as it would cause you too much tr-"

He was cut off my Hermione launching herself at him in a hug. The two toppled to the ground, with Hermione squeezing Draco so hard that he almost couldn't breathe.

"I suppose that's a yes then?"

She smiled at him and said, "Yes, you git."

Hermione gave Draco a few blankets to use while he was sleeping on the couch. She was ecstatic to say the least. Draco on the other hand was happy or at least happier than he'd been in a while. Staying at the house in the forest was not exactly pleasant. It got too dark there sometimes and his magic didn't work properly. He couldn't bear not having her around even if she did get annoying as hell. Besides, he wouldn't starve for a while. He knew that he would have to go back some time.

Once he was comfortably lying on the couch, she came over to him with a bright smile on her face and said, "I don't have work tomorrow so if you want we could both go somewhere."

"Where?"

"Anywhere you want."

Draco smirked at her and said, "I'll decide while I am sleeping."

Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him and muttering a "good night", scooped up Nimbus who was asleep on the floor and went into her room.

* * *

The next morning, Draco got up rather later than usual. Something was wrong though. Hermione was always an early riser. Even if she hadn't been living with him for the past two months, she definitely would have woken him up by now. He yawned and got off the couch. As he walked towards her room, he suddenly stepped on something and looked down. His foot was bleeding. Looking around, he frowned as he saw shards of the mirrors she kept in the hallway littered all over the ground. Seven years of bad luck, he mused to himself then realized that she wouldn't break her mirrors for no reason at all. 

Carefully maneuvering his way around the wreck on the ground, he made his way towards her room and was completely stunned by what he saw. The whole thing was completely empty. Not one trace of Hermione Granger was left in the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Well, I can easily say that it's been a ver long time since I've last updated. I can explain though but I don't think anyone wants to hear excuses. Let's just say no computer or internet and school work for four months can really put a damper on someone's mood. Hope you like this. Only one more chapter and perhaps an epilogue to go!

Oh, by the way, Rowling announced the title of the last book. It sounds...intriguing?

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**

Hermione awoke only to find that she could not see anything. Her hands had been bound tightly together, her feet were tied to the chair, and she could not tell if she had her wand with her. An odd scent hung in the air which made her immediately realize that she was not at home. Thinking back to the night before, she did not remember Draco taking her anywhere and she definitely knew that she had gone to sleep as soon as she had bade him good night. The only answer she could come up with was that she had been kidnapped. She knew that inside, she should have been panicking but in reality, she was feeling perfectly fine. This was nothing compared to the other horrors she had faced. BUt she needed to know where she was so, she did the only logical thing that her mind could think of. Hermione opened her mouth and screamed.

Without warning, a pair of lips descended onto her lips and her screaming stopped. Right away, she knew that it was Henry. There was no mistaking the fact of whose lips they were. He always kissed her at every opportunity he got and Hermione was getting extremely tired of it and had long ago stopped really responding to the kisses. She was not sure if Henry was completely aware of it for she was pretty sure that if he was, he would not keep kissing her like he did.

He took his mouth away from hers and carefully pulled the blindfold off. Hemrione almost gasped at the sight of his face. It was covered with scratches that seemed to have been leeding quite a bit. His hair was sticking up all over and his hand was wrapped in gauze strips. She saw a mad gleam enter his green eyes and right away she knew that this was not going to end well.

"Henry? Wh-what's going on? What happened to you?"

He kissed her lightly and said, "I've taken you captive."

Hermione mentally rolled her eyes. "I can see that."

"As for what happened to me, well you have your bloody cat to thank for that."

"Nimbus?" Hermione frowned. "Is he alright?"

Henry scowled at her and asked, "You're asking if the cat is alright? What about me?"

"I care deeply for my cat, Henry. Besides, he's so much more fragile than you are. Is he alright?"

Henry rolled his eyes and replied, "Sure he's alright; I've got him in a cage underneath my bed."

Hemrione paled as she heard his words. "Under your bed?"

"Yes, under my bed. But don't worry. He's fine." He kissed her again and said, D"on't you want to know why I've taken you captive?"

She looked at him with an unbelievable expression on her face and said, "Yes, I'd like to know that."

Her smirked at her and ruffled his light hair. "Alright then, Jane," he said with an emphasis on her name. "I'll tell you." He got on his knees in front of her and took her bound hands in his. "Before I start, let me just say that you are gorgeous and that I could not have been a more happier man. These last few weeks have been heaven for me." Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, "But, I also know that you've been a very bad girl. That you've been lying to me." He sighed and said, "I thought that this was an honest relationship...not a relationship where we keep secrets from one another. It hurts me Jane, you hurt me."

He took her face between his hands and caressed her cheeks. "I know you're not Jane Rainsford. I checked in the ministry records and..."

"Why on earth would you look someone up in the ministry records?" asked Hermione shaking his hands away from her face.

"That is beside the point, babe." He cleared his throat and said, "As I was saying, I looked you up in the ministry records and imagine how surprised I was to find out that there was no witch named Jane Rainsford. There were a multitude of Janes and quite a few Rainsfords but no Jane Rainsford." He narrowed his eyes at her again and said, "Who are you?"

Hermione looked down at him with disbelief. She had made sure that there was no way that anyone could have ever figured out that she was Hermione Granger. Granted that he still didn't know who he was but that did not make a difference. Out of everything she had done to preserve her identity, how could she have forgotten to alter the ministry records? She could have done it though. She, Harry, Ron, and many Order members had snuck in and out of the ministry escaping detection. It would been an easy job but she hadn't counted on ever getting involved with anyone much less anyone like Henry.

"Who are you?" Henry asked, his jaw clenching as she continued to ignore his question. When she still did not answer, he shook his head and said, "I'll find out one way or another, mark my words." He turned away from her and began pacing, muttering odd things under his breath. He looked back at her and said, "I hate secrets, Jane. All my life people have been keeping things from and it always ends up badly for me because I don't know what they are keeping from me." He glared at her and said, "I'll make you tell me your secrest if it's the last thing I do."

"I really don't think you will, Henry."

"Why's that, Jane?"

Hermione took a deep breath and got ready for what she was about to say. "Because I'm breaking up with you."

Her words had an immediate effect on Henry. His face paled and his eyes grew wide with shock. His jaw dropped several inches as his hands clenched by his sides. He opened his mouth to speak several times but no words came out. He finally managed to say with much difficulty, "You're what?"

"I'm breaking up with you," Hermione said calmly, her brown fixing him with a pointed look. "It's been on my mind for quite a while. Everything I've been thinking about plus you kidnapping me and accusing me of not being who I am all just justifies all my thinking. You and I, we both have different things in mind and you, well..." Hermione frowned while thinking of what to say. "You want a girl who depends solely on you and would be nothing without you. I am not her."

"Do you really think that you're someone who could do well on her own, Jane?"

"I could garner for myself one of the top positions in the ministry in two weeks if I wanted to, Henry," she snapped. "Don't lecture me on being a nobody."

Henry stared at her with a glare on his face and said, "That's not going to keep me away from you. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to get me to stay away from you. It's not that easy."He ran his fingers through her hair and said, "Besides, I brought you here for something else." He kneeled down so that he was at her level. "A ministry priest is coming here and marrying the two of us today. There is no way you'll ever be able to escape."

Hermione looked at him with shock and revulsion written all over her face. This man was completely crazy.

"I am not going to marry you, Henry."

He laughed and kissed her roughly. "Of course you will. I'll make sure of it."

She wiped her mouth with her hands which here still bound and burst out, "Is that how you made your other six wives marry you?"

Henry looked at her, surprised for a moment. "How did you- never mind. If you must know, I only forced five of them. The other one was ecstatic to marry me."

"What happened to them?" asked Hermione glaring at him.

He smirked at her and said, "All of them died a mysterious death and till this day, no one had ever been able to figure out why." He smirked faded to a frown as he looked at her. "Jane, did you recently dye your hair?"

"No...Is this really the time to be asking about my hair?"

He frowned and said, "I like it red, Jane. Bright red like you've always had it...not this dirty brownish red color. It's not straight anymore either."

"It's not straight?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. Her eyes did not meet his.

"No, it's not, it's getting curly and-" He cut off as comprehension slowly dawned on his face. "...You're under glamour, aren't you?"

Hermione cursed herself for being stupid. She knew that she had barely enough time to put on the full glamour since Henry had come so quickly but she was one of the smartest witches ever to walk to the planet. She could have done the ever lasting glamour spell a little quicker but no, she had to use the standard glamour spell. She was dead for sure.

Henry laughed triumphantly at her crestfallen expression. "Well, well, well, seems you really aren't who you seem to be. I might as well speed up the process."

"Henry, don't do that."

"Oh, I think I shall." He pulled out his wand and pointing it at her said, "Finite Incantum."

He was in for the fright of his life. As he saw Hermione Granger's true appearance, his face paled drastically and he jumped back several feet. He stared at her and stammered, "Her-Hermione Granger?"

She looked at him, murder written in her eyes.

"You're supposed to be dead," he whispered.

"As you can see, I'm not," she replied snottily.

He looked at her with an unreadable expression and said, "I liked you better as Jane, but I suppose you'll do."

"You can't honestly think that I'm going to marry you."

"Oh, babe," he kissed her and his eyes gleamed madly, "do you really think that anyone will come to save you? Everyone thinks you're dead. If you claim to be Hermione Granger, people will chuck you in the loony bin." He shoved his lips onto hers again and Hermione bit down, drawing blood. He backhanded her and yelled, "Show your future husband some respect!"

"You deserve no respect!" she bellowed. "You are a foul, despicable bas-" she was cut off as he slapped her once again. Hermione stared at him with furious tears in her eyes. "If you think that there is no one out there who'll come and get me, then you are seriously mistaken."

"Who's going to come get you? Larry?" he jeered.

"Yes, Larry is going to come and get me." She spat at him and said, "Larry is going to come and thrash you to death. He'll save me."

"Really? Is Larry some champion duelist? Is Larry the greatest wizard in the world? Is Larry..." he cut off with a frown. "Is Larry..." He swore. "Larry is Draco Malfoy."

Henry laughed nervously and shook his head. "I'm a dead man." He nodded and said, "I really am a dead man." Henry looked up and said, "Then, there is only one thing that I really can do to you." he pulled out his wand.

"Henry, what are you doing?"

"It's a shame. I was really looking forward to being married to you. I would have kept you for longer than normal. You've been good to me unlike the others." He looked down and shook his head. "Oh well, say good bye, Hermione Granger. No one will ever know what happened to the last friend of the great Harry Potter." He looked at her coolly and said, "Avada Kedavra."


	8. Chapter 8

Well, this was a much quicker update thatn last time but not as quick as i said it would be. Blame it on computer problems. I've had my computer for three years and in that time it's crashed twice. This time the whole thing turned on but then the internet decided not to work in my house so that posed a slight problem. Anyways, this chapter was about twice as long the first time but I didn't want it to be so much longer than the other chapters but I can definitely say, as long as my internet or computer don't malfunction that the last two chapters will be updated on Wednesday and Saturday respectively. Thanks to everyone hwo reviewed and happy reading!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**

Draco looked around Hermione's flat with a curious look on his face. He knew that she would not have just left him alone and gone off somewhere. No, she was not like that. Why, she had welcomed him to her with open arms. Something was definitely wrong.

He narrowed his eyes and stepped into her room. Her bed was neat and clean as though she had made it herself, and the floor was shining with cleanliness. He looked towards her vanity and frowned when he saw that none of her things were there. Draco opened up one of the drawers in the bureau she had in her room and raised an eyebrow when he saw that none of her clothes were inside.

Shaking his head, he began thinking to himself. Whoever abducted her was obviously very stupid. They had cleaned out her room completely but had neglected to clean up the mirror shards on the floor. He sifted around the broken pieces on the ground, putting sharp pieces into his pocket whenever he found any. He knew without a doubt that not only would he magically hurt the person who stole Hermione from him but, oh, would there be an extra dosage of pain coming up. Besides, it was always useful to have something sharp just in case a wizard's wand was taken away.

He could have gone to the ministry and told them that the one and only Hermione Granger was missing but that would have caused quite an uproar due to the fact that they were already missing. Draco vaguely noticed that Nimbus the cat was missing as well.

He thought to himself and decided that whoever had abducted her would have had to use the floo if they had wanted to come in and out of her house. That was one way to come in when she was in her house. Draco had previously gotten into her house through the windows, which she had not even made one effort to lock, but the door and the floo network would not let even one person in unless she was in the house. Draco sighed to himself as he realized that he would have to go to the ministry in order to see who had used her fire place in the last two days.

His mind immediately went to Henry as the person who could have kidnapped her. Sure, he was her boyfriend (the word brought vomit to Draco's mouth), but perhaps she had gone there to see him. If she wasn't there he could always tell him that he was just wondering where she was. But he could not just barge into the man's house. Firstly, he did not know where Henry lived, and secondly, well, Draco shook his head. He knew that Henry Trotville was a dangerous man. He had heard things about him, about him having several wives, each of them dying mysteriously. Draco had told Hermione that but it had obviously escaped her mind.

No, he needed to go to the ministry personally in order to get into the man's house. Once he got the address then it would be perfectly alright for him to barge into Henry's house.

Draco had absolutely no qualms about that.

* * *

Draco stepped out of the fireplace and into the main hall of the ministry. He looked aorund and vaguely noticed that it seemed to be a lot different from the last time he had been in it. Gone was the fountain in the center. It was replaced by a golden statue of Harry Potter. Draco sneered at it knowing that had the Harry Potter been alive, he would have wanted the ugly thing taken down immediately. Potter was a humble guy, as much as Draco hated to admit it. Humble but an idiot nevertheless. 

He glanced around the ministry wondering how he was going to get into the ministry records. Henry's address was a highly confidential piece of information. All pureblood residences were, which was why only members of the ministry and friends of the family were able to enter without permission.

Draco spotted a bleached blond sitting at the desk behind Harry Potter's statue. She was in front of a rather tattered sign that said housing documents. He smirked to himself and casually strolled over to her. He leaned on her desk and flashed her a brilliant smile. She looked up at him with an annoyed look that was soon replaced with a shy, embarrassed one.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. How may I help you?"

Draco smiled at her causing a blush to fly across her face. "Hello…" he looked down at her name tag and said, "Rhonda. I have a slight problem and I was wondering if you would be able to help me."

She batted her eyelashes at him and said, "Anything."

Draco swallowed a grimace but nevertheless applauded himself for giving himself a glamour that made him look breathtaking. Granted, the glamour obviously did not make him look as good as his normal appearance, but it was bearable. "My mother and I were talking about our ancestors the other day and the number of properties they owned. Mum was convinced that they owned forty two but I am quite sure that it was fifty-eight." The girl, Rhonda, stared at him, drinking in his every word. "Now, my mother is a very stubborn woman and naturally she took it quite personally when I told her that she was wrong."

Draco leaned forward slightly, smirking when he saw that Rhonda was staring at him with an awed expression on her face. "Rhonda, I'm sure that you are a very smart witch. Do you think that you could pull out all of the records of the houses we owned for me?"

Rhonda stared at him as though in a daze and quickly nodded her head. "Name?"

"Snaps."

Her jaw dropped. "Snaps? As in the Snapsberry bubble gum?"

Draco raised an eyebrow and said, "Er…yes, one and the same. Now if you don't mind…"

Rhonda colored slightly and said, "Oh, yes, right away. Follow me."

Draco followed her to a backroom that was filled with a multitude of colorful files all arranged in alphabetical order.

"Small…Smeesley….Smelts….Snan….Snat…" She frowned. "Mr. Snaps, it appears that your file isn't here."

"That's odd," replied Draco locating the shelves that held the last names beginning with "t". "Perhaps it's been misplaced?"

"That's likely it," replied Rhonda with a frown. "Why don't you stay here and I'll check around."

Draco smiled at her with as much politeness as he could muster and said, "Alright."

Rhonda blushed and turned around, examining shelves here and there for the file on the Snaps. Once she had exited the aisle, Draco rolled his eyes and quickly scanned the shelves for Henry's file. He ran his fingers over each file making sure that he did not miss even one. "Trevi…Troan…Tromlin…Tross…Trotvile…ah, Trotville." Draco carefully pulled the file out and opened it up. His house was called Red Gate Hall and happened to be located in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't really nowhere but Draco had never heard of the place in his life.

Since he had more time, Draco decided to read over the rest of the file. In addition to his address, there happened to be a lot of information about Henry himself. As looked over the file, he noticed something that caused him to frown. Next to his Hogwarts graduation date, it said 1965. Perhaps it was a mistake. Draco shook his head and continued to read further. That was when the file began making no sense at all.

Apparently, in 1967, he married a Giselle Trentwood, who died a month after their marriage. He married again five years later to Marie Fronds who also died a month after the wedding. He scanned the rest of the page and saw that Henry had indeed married six times, each one of his wives dying a little bit after the marriage. The file said no children. How could there have been children if the wives died barely a month after marriage. All purebloods no matter how modern they had become always got married to the woman if they were with child.

Then again, there were always those people in the wizarding world who were overly paranoid and did idiotic things like faking their records so that people like Draco who were nosing their way into things that they had no business in nosing into would be confused and without substantial information.

But, now that he thought of it, Draco vaguely remembered his mother and father talking about Red Gate Hall when he was younger. He did not know who they were talking about at that time but he still remembered it nevertheless.

Flashback:

_"Have you heard, Lucius? Henry Trotville's fifth wife died just this morning."_

_"Is that so?" asked Draco's father, peering at her curiously. "His fifth wife?"_

_Narcissa nodded with remorse. "Such a shame. She was such a pretty girl."_

_"Hmm…" Lucius narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing._

_"At the rate that he's had wives, I wouldn't be surprised if he found another one in the next few years. He never seems to be getting any older like the rest of us."_

_"Jealous, dear?"_

_Narcissa turned her nose up at him and said, "Evelyn Parkinson and I are planning on going to the funeral tomorrow. Will you be coming?"_

_Lucius looked up sharply at her. "I am not going to any funeral and neither are you."_

_"But Lucius, I-"_

_"You are not going and that's that. The man is dangerous. He's head deep in dark arts that even," Lucius chanced a look at the three year old Draco who was busy playing with a toy snake, "that even the Dark Lord had said were too dirty for him to touch." He sat back in his chair and said, "No one is going to that funeral tomorrow."_

Present:

That memory got him thinking. Dark magic too dirty for the dark lord himself to touch. Too dirty? Dark magic itself was too dirty for anyone to touch. But the Dark Lord? Something in his mind awoke. Swearing to himself, Draco flipped through the pages to see if there was any information on the death of the wives. Sure enough, a short, but gruesomely informative paragraph was dedicated to their deaths. Had he really wanted all of the details, he would have had to go to the Auror department or some sort of crime solving department if there was such a thing but this sufficed. Swearing once again, Draco slammed the folder shut, jammed it back into the shelf and raced out of the backroom back into the main hall of the ministry.

He barely registered the fact that he had left Rhonda there but he cared less. All he knew was that he had to get to Hermione or else things were not going to end happily. Pushing past people who were on their way to the fireplace, Draco threw a hand full of floo powder from the vase on the mantle and yelled, "RED GATE HALL!" He stepped into the fireplace and vanished.

He tumbled out of the fireplace wincing as the shards of mirror he had scratched him as he tumbled onto the floor. He quickly pulled himself off the ground and pulling out his wand, used the point me spell to figure out where Hermione was. His efforts were seriously hindered when half of the time the spell pointed him straight at walls with clearly nowhere else to go.

Finally, after much effort and annoyance, Draco finally made his way to large black door. Putting his wand in his robe in a way that he could reach it if he needed to, he stared at the door and tried turning the handle to see if it would open. When it didn't, he sighed and pulled out his wand. Muttering various unlocking spells, he was greatly angered when he found that nothing would work. As a result, he conjured up a hair pin and began to pick the lock. It was one of the most undignified things that he had ever done in his life but he didn't care because he knew that the faster he was able to open the door, the faster he could get to Hermione and the faster he would be able to kill Henry Trotville.


	9. Chapter 9

Next chapter is up! One more to go. Though I can't say I was too happy about the number of reviews, I just have to say that I'm g;ad that I'm almost done with this. So happy reading and next chapter is on Saturday, which coincidentally also happens to be the day I'm taking my SAT's...

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**

_Meanwhile:_

"Who's gonna come get you? Larry?" Henry jeered.

"Yes, Larry is going to come and get me." Hermione spat at him and said, "Larry is going to come and thrash you to death."

"Really? Is Larry some champion duelist? Is Larry the greatest wizard in the world? Is Larry..." he cut off with a frown. "Is Larry..." He swore. "Larry is Draco Malfoy."

Henry laughed nervously and shook his head. "I'm a dead man." He nodded and said, "I really am a dead man." Henry looked up and said, "Then, there is only one thing that I really can do to you." he pulled out his wand.

"Henry, what are you doing?"

"Say good bye, Hermione Granger. No one will ever know what happened to the last friend of the great Harry Potter." He looked at her coolly and said, "Avada Kedavra."

Time seemed to slow down in that one instant for Hermione. She saw the jet of green light at the exact moment that it left his wand. It seemed to be coming at her at an impossibly slow rate and she could not for the life of her understand why. But at that second, her reflexes kicked in. She kicked off of the ground with her feet, which where tied to the chair and winced as she crashed into the ground. The pain wasn't over yet for the impact of the killing curse hitting the bottom of the chair and splintering it to bits threw her against an adjacent wall. She fell to the ground in a crumpled heat as Henry's jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

He burst into laughter as he realized what had just happened. "You ducked…of all the things, you ducked…" He shook his head and said, "Now, that, Hermione Granger, was a smart thing yet so stupid at the same time."

Hermione had, surprisingly enough managed to come to her feet after falling to the floor, clutching her side as she put a hand on the wall, she said, "Do you really think it's that easy to get rid of me? Death Eaters ten times stronger than you have tried and failed."

Henry chuckled and said, "True but they you were never wandless against them, were you?"

"Do you want to bet on that, Henry?" she hissed, her brown eyes lighting up with rage. Her whole body was now shaking and her face had become a startling red shade. Henry was even becoming slightly apprehensive of her. He became even more so when the windows around him began to shatter one by one. He looked up at her with awe and fear on his face.

Hermione winced as her side exploded with pain. He turned to him and said, "There is a reason why people who messed with us never got away unharmed." At that point, Henry's wand exploded right in his hands, throwing him backward onto the broken glass of the windows. He groaned once. Hermione realized the magnitude of what she had done and forced herself to calm down. Slowly inching her way along the wall, she made her way to the black door that was in the room. She carefully turned towards it and tried turning the knob. Unfortunately, that did not work. Having no wand made it no better. She looked around the room and saw that her only other option was to go through the window.

Looking at the room in frustration, she nearly screamed when she felt her head yanked back by her hair. She felt the cold blade of a knife on her neck and heavy breathing by her ear.

"Well, babe," whispered Henry in her ear, "looks like we've got a problem here."

"Henry, just let me go," said Hermione, closing her eyes and swallowing nervously.

"I don't think so." He planted a kiss just below her ear and said, "You've got so much power. Imagine what that does to your blood."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Hermione softly, as the knife pressed her throat harder.

"It's got to do with everything in the world." Henry smirked and roughly turning her around, shoved her against the wall, holding the knife towards her. "Blood can do a great many things when used for magic. I expect that you know that already, though, being Hermione Granger." He kneeled down so that he was at her level and said, "It's used for potions, healing, and various other aspects of magic." He looked at her with a glint in his eyes. "But when a person drinks it…"

As he stared at her, she replied, "You're not a vampire, are you?"

He laughed and brandished the knife at her. "Of course not. If I had been a vampire, you would have been turned already judging by the amount of biting we've done." Hermione glared at him while a faint pink color tinged her cheeks. "Don't feel bad, love." He caressed her cheek then pulled his hand away.

"Have you ever heard of dirty magic?"

Hermione paled as she heard him say that. She looked him over once and timidly asked, "How old are you really, Henry?"

"I will be turning fifty years old in two months," he said with a broad smile. "Although, from drinking all that blood, I never feel that old." He sighed and said, "Unfortunately, my blood supply from my last wife has become rather low, babe. But, yours will do just fine."

Hermione felt the panic welling up within her. "You-you're not getting any of my blood."

"Oh, you'll give it to me whether you want to or not. I may not have my wand but there is more than one way to kill a pretty girl like you." With that, he descended upon her, his body crushing hers against the wall as he pressed his mouth to hers. Hermione realized that she could not breathe.

_Meanwhile:  
_  
Draco had picked the lock of the black door with much ease. But he was angered to see that this door led to a long hallway. That left only one thing to do. Draco began sprinting down the hallway. As he was running, he passed by a mirror and saw that he still had the glamour on. Shaking his head, he muttered, "Finite Incantum." He was glad to see his normal face staring back at him.

He kept running. It seemed as though the hallway would never end. He knew he was getting closer though. He could feel it somehow. If that bastard had touched her in any way, there would be hell to pay. Draco would make sure of it.

The hallway slowly started going upward causing Draco to push himself to run even faster. After what had seemed like an hour but had really been about five minutes, Draco reached the end. He was faced with an ominous black door with rubies encrusted around the edge. Something was written on it in Latin, but Draco could not make out what it was. He tried turning the door but it did not open. Knowing that they were probably behind this door, he backed up a few feet and yelled the largest blasting spell that he could think of. It worked wonders.

The door blew off of its hinges giving Draco a clear pathway into the room. He ran in and what he saw made his blood boil. Henry had Hermione pressed against the wall and was kissing her. Draco's vision grew red and he yelled, "Expelliarmus!" Henry was thrown away from Hermione and landed on the opposite side of the room. Draco rushed over to her and gathering her in his arms, kissed her forehead and asked, "Are you alright?"

Hermione who was panting managed to say, "Couldn't…breathe." Draco glared at Henry's crumpled form and kissing Hermione on the cheek said, "Stay here."

Hermione pulled at Draco's robe. "Draco, he-he drinks blood to-"

"I know," he replied staring at Henry who was now attempting to get off the floor. "Did he get any of yours?" Hermione shook her head.

Draco turned to Henry with a sneer on his face. He said, "Henry Trotville. I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

Henry looked at Draco from underneath his hair that had fallen over his eyes. With a terrible grin he said, "I met you as a baby. You must not remember."

Draco said nothing but instead held his wand towards the man. Henry smiled at Draco and said, "I must say though, when I met you as a baby, you were rather charming, nothing at all like how you are right now."

"Shut up," hissed Draco. He glanced behind at Hermione who was staring at Henry with a disgusted look on her face. Draco looked back at Henry and said, "We're leaving now. If you ever try to find her," he gave that a second thought, "either of us, for that matter, I'll kill you. I'll kill you with my own hands."

Henry stared at Draco with a smile and said, "Have it your way." In a flash he threw his knife at Draco, embedding it in his arm. As Draco fell to the ground gripping his arm, Henry crawled towards him and pulled the knife out. He proceeded to stab it into Draco once more, leaving him sprawled out on the ground, blood pooling around him. He looked up as he heard a strangled cry come from Hermione.

"Babe, don't think I've forgotten about you even for a minute." Hermione began to stand up but was stopped when Henry grabbed Draco's wand and pointed it at her. "That's a good girl."

Hermione looked at him with a defiant look in her eyes. "You're a monster."

"I've heard worse babe." He gestured for her to stand up with the wand and said, "Cooperate, will you? It'll make things so much easier for the both of us." He saw the defiant look in her eyes and said, "You shouldn't try anything funny. I've got a knife and a wand."

Hermione slowly stood up, her brown eyes narrowed with anger as Henry approached her. She tried to press herself against the wall but she knew that it was pointless. There was no where else to go.

Draco groaned from the ground and Henry rolled his eyes. "That one never quits, does he?" He placed a rough kiss on her mouth and said, "Hold on one second, babe." He then turned around and looming over Draco's body, began kicking him.

As that was happening, angry tears were storming down Hermione's face because she wanted to do something but she knew that she couldn't. But at that moment, she heard Draco groan, "...make…him…drink…his…" But he couldn't finish what he was saying for at that moment, he fell completely unconscious. Hermione on the other hand knew exactly what to do.

Henry turned around to look at her and said, "That was remarkably easy. Now, babe, where were we?" He raised an eyebrow when he saw that Hermione had a smirk on her face. Without warning, she lunged at him, capturing his mouth with his. Henry not realizing what she was going to do happily kissed her, plunging his tongue into her mouth in a way that made Hermione want to gag.

That was when she bit down on his tongue nice and hard. She tasted blood.

Henry made a strangled sort of noise and tried to pull away but Hermione wrapped her arms around his head making it impossible for him to pull away. Grimacing as the coppery taste of his blood filled her mouth, she somehow spat it back into his mouth. She pulled away from him and clamped a hand around his mouth and nose to keep him from spitting the blood out and breathing. Henry must have really been panicking for despite the fact that he was clearly stronger than she was, he was unable to push her off of him. He fell to the ground, pulling Hermione down with him.

All of a sudden, his eyes widened and Hermione knew that he had swallowed his blood. She slowly let go of him and watched with wide eyes as he slumped backwards, eyes closed. And right before her eyes, his body turned to ashes.

Hermione stared at him in apparent shock, wondering what had just happened. Perhaps if she had more time she would read up on it but just seeing it happen, well, that was another story. She was jolted out of her awe as she remembered that Draco was on the round, unconscious in his own blood. That was never a good sign.

She rushed over to his side and took his head in her hands. "Oh my god, Draco…" He had bruises forming all over his stomach and back, a stab wound in his arm, and one in his stomach that was bleeding heavily. They had to get out of here before someone discovered Draco's blood on the floor.

On second thoughts, if Draco's blood was on the floor and Henry was missing then it would be safe to assume that Henry had "murdered" Draco. There really was a lot of blood on the floor. She needed to leave fast though. Draco wouldn't be able to survive much longer if he lost any more blood. Snatching his wand from the ground where Henry had dropped it, she prodded around the room for any anti-apparation wards. She scoffed as she felt a weak one in place. This ward was as breakable as a glass vase. Muttering the counter curse, Hermione smiled half-heartedly as she felt it lift. Holding Draco tightly to her, she muttered, "Hang on, Draco."

With a loud CRACK, she apparated away, leaving the ashes of Henry Trotville on the floor, which would only be found along with Draco's blood a month later when Henry's monthly cleaner would come to clean the room. Henry would later be proclaimed the murderer of Draco Malfoy and his ashes would be thrown into the sea.

Justification was always sweet.


	10. Chapter 10

Hmm...I don't think I really have an excuse for not updating this whole time. I could say school but that would be a really weak excuse so please excuse me while I go hide in a corner and kick myself for not updating on time. A special thanks is in order to everyone who has reviewed and to **Gwinna** who reminded me to update. Anyways, I have to say that I am happy with this story and slightly sad but glad that it is over. Hope you all enjoy the last chapter and don't forget to review at the end!

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.

* * *

**

Draco Malfoy woke up with a loud groan. As he tried to sit up wherever he was, he was immediately pushed back down by a warn pair of hands that proceeded to sponge his forehead. He cautiously opened his eyes and winced as bright light filled his vision. Draco blinked a few times and squinted to see where he was.

He was back at his home in the forest. Home sweet home. Draco tried sitting up again but was pushed down by a voice that said, "Draco, please..."

He knew that voice. Then it hit him. The fight with Henry Trotville to save Hermione Granger, how that bastard had stabbed him all over. He allowed her to push him down and once he was able to see her face he asked, "Alright there, Granger?"

His grey eyes locked with her brown ones as she looked down at him with relief. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" she asked.

Draco yawned and shrugged in reply. "You know me. I'm always alright." Hermione raised an eyebrow and continued to sponge his head.

"How long have I been out?"

"About a week." Hermione looked at him with a clam expression on her face. "You were bleeding heavily and had multiple bruises. I did the best I could to patch you up."

"Oh," sighed Draco, looking away from her. "Why are we here and not at your place?"

Hermione stared at him for a moment before cracking a smile. "I don't live there anymore. I sold the place as soon as you were back in stable condition." She shook her head and continued, "I don't think I could- want to live there any more." Hermione fidgeted with her hands and said, "I took the liberty of moving my things back here. I hope you don't mind..."

Draco shot up from the couch with a look of faint surprise on his face. "You hope I don't mind? Granger, are you mad?"

Hermione quickly looked away from him. "It's only temporary though, until I find a new place to stay in. I'll be out of here before you know it and-" She was cut off by Draco's hand over her mouth. Hermione gave a muffled cry of indignation.

"You bint, of course I don't mind you staying here," Draco murmured. "I want you to stay here. I..." At this, he broke off, his cheeks slightly pink. "I like you here." He removed his hand from her mouth and looked at her, waiting for her reaction.

Hermione stared back quite unsure of what to say. Then she lunged off the chair she was sitting on and threw herself onto Draco, engulfing him in a nice but rather painful hug."

"Thank you Draco! Thank you thank you thank you!" she whispered as she continued to squeeze him.

"Wonderful, Granger," wheezed Draco, wincing as he felt her weight on his injuries. "But would you mind?"

Hermione still on top of him pulled away and asked, "What?"

Draco stared at her with a peculiar look on his face before quickly pressing his lips to hers. Pulling away with a smirk on his face, he said, "You're hurting me, love."

Hermione gazed at him with shock and surprise before she realized what he had said. She scrambled off of him and said, "I'm sorry, Draco. I didn't mean to hurt you." She took his hand and said, "Did I hurt you badly?"

Draco looked at her hand entwined with his and smirked. "I'm fine, Granger. You know me...So, you'll stay, right? Here, with me."

She beamed at him to which he found that he had no reply. "Of course I'll stay. After what's happened, well, I don't think I could possibly leave."

"That's good," he replied staring at her with a devious smile.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I was just wondering...do you remember what we were talking about before you left?"

"We talked about a lot of things, Draco."

He smirked at her and said, "Since you won't be going anywhere for a long time, how about we get a head start on making those fourteen Malfoy-Granger babies?"

Hermione's jaw dropped at his statement. "I didn't think you were serious about that."

"Sirius was my cousin's name."

Hermione scowled at him and said, "That's not funny, Draco."

He smirked at her and said, "Of course I want fourteen Malfoy-Granger babies. They would be irresistible, that's for sure. And, look on the bright side. That would be more than the Weasley's, two times more!"

"Fourteen, Draco?"

"Yes, fourteen, Granger. I said it in English as well."

Hermione smiled sweetly down at him and placed a kiss on his lips. Just as Draco made a move to pull her down further, she pulled her mouth from his and began walking away.

"What-where are you going, Granger?" yelled Draco with panic.

"Finding a nice spot for your grave, Draco," came her reply.

"My grave? What on earth do I need a grave for? Hey! Come back here! GRANGER!"

And they both lived happily ever after...

**THE END.**


End file.
